Mobile diagnostic imaging units are designed to house multi-modality diagnostic scanners, i.e. CAT-scan (CT) or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Positron Tomography (PET) or Positron Tomography/Computerized Tomography (PET/CT) apparatus secured within a trailer capable of being moved along roadways to various locations. By having such modern medical resources available as mobile units, medium and smaller sized medical facilities often in remote or thinly populated regions may offer cutting edge technology to their patients without the expense of outright purchasing of such modern and costly medical resources. Mobile units also make it possible for facilities to provide additional scan services for backlogs or when upgrades take place. Additionally, their facilities do not have to be re-constructed to house such complex medical equipment as PET/CT or MRI modalities. Moreover, as the technology of such PET/CT scanners and MRI imaging resources improves, the medical facilities do not have to invest the substantial capital to be constantly upgrading their facilities to accommodate such improved equipment. Instead, the mobile imaging units are upgraded, and thereby simply bring improved imaging technology to the various medical facilities that utilize mobile imaging units.
It is common that one mobile imaging unit may be at one medical facility for daily services or can be for incremental periods of time, such as a week, and then be at another facility a hundred or so miles away for a subsequent time period and so on to thereby maximize the availability of the mobile imaging units to many people. Such movement of the mobile imaging units may be on a schedule of incremental stays at varying locations throughout remote regions. Simultaneously, the medical facilities schedule patient visits for the mobile imaging units during their stay at a particular facility.
While such deployment of mobile imaging units has significant advantages, many significant problems are also associated with their usage. For example, FIG. 1 shows a typical mobile imaging unit at reference numeral 10, and as is apparent the unit 10 has the rugged exterior appearance of a highway freight trailer. To position the mobile imaging unit next to a medical facility 12, the unit 10 must be in a parking lot 14 adjacent to the facility 12. That gives rise to risks of vehicles traveling within the parking lot 14 accidentally hitting the mobile imaging unit 10. Therefore, the unit 10 is typically surrounded by unsightly barrier warnings 16, as better shown in FIG. 2, which shows a second similar mobile imaging unit 18 surrounded by vehicle barrier warnings 16, such as brightly colored chains and posts, etc. Much effort is put into making medical facilities appear attractive, with appealing exteriors and extensive landscape work. Positioning a mobile imaging unit 10, 18 in a parking lot adjacent such a medical facility 12 completely disrupts the appearance of the facility 12, and presents risks to both persons using the facility parking lot 14 and also to persons within the mobile imaging unit from vehicles traveling in the parking lot 14.
FIG. 3 shows the second mobile imaging unit 18 from a rear view so that an entrance 20 to the unit 18 is opened adjacent a second medical facility 22. The entrance 20 requires a patient to climb a significant height from the parking lot 14 to a base 24 of the unit 18. The base 24 of the mobile imaging unit 18 is comparable to a bed of a common freight trailer (not shown), and is used to provide the structural support for the imaging and/or medical equipment and related control machinery located upon the base 24. The base 24 is supported by mobile unit support wheels 26 above the parking lot 14 a substantial distance due to mechanical requirements of the mobile imaging unit 18.
Therefore, patients utilizing the mobile imaging unit 18 face additional risks inherent in climbing a steep entrance 20 to pass into the unit 18. While facility based wheel chair accessible ramps (not shown) and/or more elaborate entrances could be designed and deployed for use with the mobile imaging units 10, 18. The costs of such elaborate machinery are typically prohibitive, especially where the units 10, 18 are only resident at the medical facility 12 for short durations.
For patients being processed through such mobile imaging units 10, 18, host facilities must also adhere to clinical requirements by providing a waiting room, private administrative offices, a changing room, lavatories etc. As is apparent from FIGS. 1-3, the mobile imaging units provide little extra room for any waiting rooms or administrative offices to interview patients and process their medical documents. They also do not offer the patients adequate privacy, and consequently they may not be in compliance with HIPAA. Additionally, any changing rooms for patients to change out of their clothing to be properly examined by either a CAT scan or MRI within the units 10, 18 are extremely small, or often located some distance away within the medical facility 12, 22. It is common that patients therefore process through a waiting room, private administrative offices and a changing room within the medical facility 22 before being escorted out of the facility 22 through the outside weather and up the entryway 20 into the mobile imaging unit 18. Such challenging logistics for efficient use of the mobile imaging unit 18 presents significant discomfort and stress for patients. Some patients therefore simply decline to use a medical facility with only a mobile imaging unit 10, 18. Consequently, while mobile imaging units currently provide many benefits, they unfortunately also raise risks that limit their potential value.